Nice job Bears! Not a Bears fan, didn't grow up in Chicago, but always rooted for you while I was there! Link
- Thread starter Eurocat
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Stroud is three years in now, and he's regressed each year since winning offensive ROY in 2024. Williams has one less year under his belt and is a better runner. I'd trade CJ for Caleb in a heartbeat. If Caleb were the Texans' QB, they'd still be playing.
I'll also take Ben Johnson calling plays if we're talking trades.
I don’t know what games you are watching. Caleb is a franchise quarterback. He got much better as the season progressed. He will be much better next year as he continues to improve on reading defenses. He has not been turnover prone in his career and is the best quarterback in football at avoiding sacks. Watching Stroud and Maye get sacked and stripped repeatedly made me appreciate Williams.
What are the maddening parts of his game that cost them often? He misses some open receivers. I get that. That has gotten better and I am confident will continue to improve. What mistakes did he make in the Green Bay game?
He misses on a lot of throws and makes bad decisions frequently much like the interception that effectively ended the Bears season.
I’m sure there are countless of examples from each game. Here’s a nice breakdown of his poor play in the endzone versus the Steelers. I leave the rest to you and Google.
As I said, lowest pressure to sack rate in the NFL. So you found one of the few times this year where somebody caught him scrambling in the pocket.
Give me a few examples from the Packers game since he makes countless mistakes in each game. And make sure you are aware of the routes receivers his receivers are supposed to run.
No way in hell. Nix is very good, but there would be very few NFL GM’s that would take Nix today over Williams for the future.
It just proves that a QB is always judged differently by a fan base than any other player. They are expected to take no sacks, always throw to the correct player and never make a bad throw.
The Bears FINALLY have a franchise QB. A guy that plays with passion and clearly leads the team, and has more athleticism and arm talent than anyone ever in a Bears Uniform! A guy who cares, not like Cutler or some others.
These tiers are for this year only, not a projection. They’re also not ordered within tiers, and I don’t think there’s a massive gap between most of the players grouped together.
Tier 1 – Superstars (can carry an offense week to week)
Mahomes
Jackson
Allen
Burrow
Tier 2 – Potential Franchise QBs (if you have them you stick with them)
Hurts
Stafford
Love
Williams
Goff
Nix
Maye
Purdy
Prescott
Herbert
Tier 3 – Solid starters / good QBs (not likely your long term choice but was productive)
Stroud
Mayfield
Darnold
Young
Rodgers
There’s at least 5 qbs I’d rather for now and in the future than Williams. For this season only that number increases.
Tier 1 – Superstars (can carry an offense week to week)
Mahomes
Jackson
Allen
Burrow
Tier 2 – Potential Franchise QBs (if you have them you stick with them)
Hurts
Stafford
Love
Williams
Goff
Nix
Maye
Purdy
Prescott
Herbert
Tier 3 – Solid starters / good QBs (not likely your long term choice but was productive)
Stroud
Mayfield
Darnold
Young
Rodgers
There’s at least 5 qbs I’d rather for now and in the future than Williams. For this season only that number increases.
Putting Darnold on this list didn't get enough attention. What he's done with Seattle this year is an impressive encore to a comeback season in Minnesota that ended poorly, and he definitely has earned some respect as a usable starter over the last couple years -- but in no universe am I building around a journeyman who famously saw ghosts while playing for the Jets pre-pandemic, then followed that up with uninspiring Panthers and 49ers stints before the late career trajectory change as opposed to the second year QB that was a #1 pick and has a 47:13 TD:INT ratio in 2 seasons.
I think the premise of the debate matters a lot here.
If the argument is about who are the Top 5 QBs in the NFL today...
Statistically the answer this season was probably Stafford, Maye, Allen, Lawrence, Caleb. If you assume health and don't hold injuries against guys like Lamar, Burrow, and Mahomes, then Caleb gets bumped out of that group. (And if the conversation is about resume to date, guys like Hurts get more credit as well, even though he seems to have really benefitted from his teammates literally pushing him forward.)
If the argument is about who would you want to build around if you were starting over today, then that's a different discussion...
Stafford is great, but old. Lamar is great, but will he still be as age starts to sap his speed? Guys like Jayden Daniels become more interesting debates -- can see him either being bumped up in a "starting from scratch" framing because there's so much potential there and you could surround him with better protection than his actual franchise, or bumped down because his skinny build makes you worried he can't last too long in the NFL. Better argument for Love here as well.
Basically, it's not unreasonable to think Caleb is a Top 5 guy, but wouldn't call it a lock either and depends on the criteria.
If the argument is about who are the Top 5 QBs in the NFL today...
Statistically the answer this season was probably Stafford, Maye, Allen, Lawrence, Caleb. If you assume health and don't hold injuries against guys like Lamar, Burrow, and Mahomes, then Caleb gets bumped out of that group. (And if the conversation is about resume to date, guys like Hurts get more credit as well, even though he seems to have really benefitted from his teammates literally pushing him forward.)
If the argument is about who would you want to build around if you were starting over today, then that's a different discussion...
Stafford is great, but old. Lamar is great, but will he still be as age starts to sap his speed? Guys like Jayden Daniels become more interesting debates -- can see him either being bumped up in a "starting from scratch" framing because there's so much potential there and you could surround him with better protection than his actual franchise, or bumped down because his skinny build makes you worried he can't last too long in the NFL. Better argument for Love here as well.
Basically, it's not unreasonable to think Caleb is a Top 5 guy, but wouldn't call it a lock either and depends on the criteria.
The statement I made that caused the predictable hullabaloo was based on top quarterbacks to build your franchise around today. So to me this disqualifies guys like Stanford, Prescott and basically anyone over the age of 32. Caleb is 23. I wasn’t stating Caleb was better than Allen, Jackson, Burrow, Mahomes. However, they are all in their late 20’s. The debate resolves not around who is better today, but in the long-term who would serve your franchise better.
The young quarterback is coming on. Maye can stake a claim for being on the top. Daniels is great when he stays on the field. Nix is very good, but I have his ceiling well below Caleb. None of these guys have a resume to be in today’s top tier as far as winning championships, playoff wins. They will at some point.
Stafford and Hurts are WAY better and more accomplished right now than Williams. Stafford is old so the “build a franchise around” qualifier allows you to remove him from this, but if you people prefer Williams to Hurts right now the Bearsville is out to lunch.
I don’t disagree the Stafford and Hurts are better than Williams. I don’t think they are Tier 1.
Hurts posted a 3224-25-6 line with 421-8 on the ground. (55.5 QBR, 98.5 passer rating)
Caleb posted 3942-27-7 and 388-3. (58.3 QBR, 90.1 passer rating)
Caleb's low completion percentage is dragging his passer rating, but he otherwise had a more productive year than Hurts for the most part, unless you think a more pushable tush should be worth that much. Younger guy with more room to grow as well. There'll be some regression in '26 as the Bears face a first-place schedule (but possibly for Hurts too with A.J. Brown likely leaving town).
I dunno, that feels like a fair game debate, not a hopeless homer take.
It’s a fair debate. I would argue Hurts has had more good years than Williams so Williams has to prove it another year to pass him. Williams highlight reel has been better than his stats, the ceiling is there. Just not there yet imo a lot of homer takes on him. I don’t think he’s passed Love yet. I would however be very excited if I was a Bears fan
Williams problem is he whiffs all the time. Of that changes, it’ll mean a lot given the other tools. Anybody who thinks he’s currently comparable to Hurts has had too many cheeseborgers and pepsis
Disagree, I think he has passed Love who has regressed. I am okay being called a homer, I have seen every game and he is different than he was to start the season. Gigantic improvement. Love OTOH has gone the wrong way.
I'm not a Bears fan, for whatever it's worth, though I suppose that doesn't preclude commentary on my cheeseborger consumption as a Chicagoland resident...
The best argument I see for Hurts is 3 picks in 10 postseason games including 6 wins, versus 5 in 2 for Caleb. Hurts played impressively well in the two Super Bowls against KC, even the one they lost, and as great as a couple of the throws Caleb made against both Green Bay and the Rams were, Caleb doesn't have a comparably deep track record of playoff success (college or pro, for that matter).
Catching up to Hurts' level of production in the greater sample size of regular season play certainly hints that Caleb might start getting more opportunities to change that in January going forward though...
Ultimately, I'm not offended by a Hurts > Caleb right now, or even going forward, take. But not convinced Hurts is clear of the margin of error.
Losing key OL and some of his more reliable receivers contributed to his “regression”. I think it’s a fair debate who had the better year. I think Love is underrated by nfc north fan bases but overrated by Packer fans. To each their own. In their head to head playoff game Love had the better game statistically.